Archive for January, 2010

Washington, D.C. | January 26, 2010 | www.adc.org | Last Thursday, 54 Members of the House of Representatives led by Congressman Ellison of Minnesota and Congressman McDermott from Washington State signed a letter to President Obama asking his Administration to lift the blockade on Gaza. In the letter to President Obama, the 54 Members of Congress said “the unabated suffering of Gazan civilians highlights the urgency of reaching a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and we ask you to press for immediate relief for the citizens of Gaza as an urgent component of your broader Middle East Peace.” Click here to read the full letter.

ADC President Mary Rose Oakar said “Now is the time to hold our elected Officials accountable to work for a just and lasting peace in the
Middle East. These 54 Members should be recognized for their courage in attempting to bring an end to the unfair treatment of the Palestinian people.”

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) urges you to recognize and thank these 54 US House Representatives for exhibiting leadership by contacting them TODAY. Please see below for the list.

Name

State

Phone #

Raul Grijalva

AZ

(202) 225- 2435

Barbara Lee

CA

(202) 225- 2661

Bob Filner

CA

(202) 225- 8045

Diane Watson

CA

(202) 225- 7084

Fortney Pete Stark

CA

(202) 225- 5065

George Miller

CA

(202) 225- 2095

Jackie Speier

CA

(202) 225- 3531

Lois Capps

CA

(202) 225- 3601

Loretta Sanchez

CA

(202) 225- 2965

Lynn Woolsey

CA

(202) 225- 5161

Michael M. Honda

CA

(202) 225- 2631

Sam Farr

CA

(202) 225- 2861

Jim Himes

CT

(202) 225- 5541

Bruce D. Braley

IA

(202) 225- 2911

Andre Carson

IN

(202) 225- 4011

John A. Yarmuth

KY

(202) 225- 5401

James P. McGovern

MA

(202) 225- 6101

John Tierney

MA

(202) 225- 8020

John W. Oliver

MA

(202) 225- 5335

Michael E Capuano

MA

(202) 225- 5111

Stephen F. Lynch

MA

(202) 225- 8273

William D. Delahunt

MA

(202) 225- 3111

Donna F. Edwards

MD

(202) 225- 8699

Elijah E. Cummings

MD

(202) 225- 4741

Carolyn C. Kilpatrick

MI

(202) 225- 2261

John Conyers

MI

(202) 225- 5126

John D. Dingell

MI

(202) 225- 4071

Betty McCollum

MN

(202) 225- 6631

James L. Oberstar

MN

(202) 225- 6211

Keith Ellison

MN

(202) 225- 4755

David E. Price

NC

(202) 225- 1784

Bill Pascrell, Jr.

NJ

(202) 225- 5751

Donald M. Payne

NJ

(202) 225- 3436

Rush D. Holt

NJ

(202) 225- 5801

Eric Massa

NY

(202) 225- 3161

Maurice D. Hinchey

NY

(202) 225- 6335

Paul Tonko

NY

(202) 225- 5076

Yvette D. Clarke

NY

(202) 225- 6231

Marcy Kaptur

OH

(202) 225- 4146

Mary Jo Kilroy

OH

(202) 225- 2015

Earl Blumenauer

OR

(202) 225- 4811

Peter A. Defazio

OR

(202) 225- 6416

Chaka Fattah

PA

(202) 225- 4001

Joe Sestak

PA

(202) 225- 2011

Glenn C. Nye

VA

(202) 225- 4215

James P. Moran

VA

(202) 225- 4376

Peter Welch

VT

(202) 225- 4115

Adam Smith

WA

(202) 225- 8901

Brian Baird

WA

(202) 225- 3536

Jay Inslee

WA

(202) 225- 6311

Jim McDermott

WA

(202) 225- 3106

Gwen Moore

WI

(202) 225- 4572

Tammy Baldwin

WI

(202) 225- 2906

Nick J Rahall II

WV

(202) 225- 3452

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NOTE TO EDITORS: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), which is non sectarian and non partisan, is the largest Arab-American civil rights organization in the United States. It was founded in 1980, by former Senator James Abourezk to protect the civil rights of people of Arab descent in the United States and to promote the cultural heritage of the Arabs. ADC has 38 chapters nationwide, including chapters in every major city in the country, and members in all 50 states.

The ADC Research Institute (ADC-RI), which was founded in 1981, is a Section 501(c)(3) educational organization that sponsors a wide range of programs on behalf of Arab Americans and of importance to all Americans.

Israel has opened the floodgates of one of its dams in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, flooding Palestinian houses and causing severe damage.

The Israeli authorities opened the dam’s floodgates without any prior warning or coordination with local authorities in Gaza, stunning the residents of the area, the Press TV correspondent in Gaza reported late on Monday.

There has been heavy rain in the region over the past 24 hours. It seems the Israeli authorities could not handle the huge amount of rainwater and decided to open the floodgates without prior warning.

Because Gaza is located in a low-lying area and the elevation decreases on the way to the Mediterranean Sea, water gushed into the area, flooding two Palestinian villages and displacing a hundred Gazan families.

The waters from the dam, called the Valley of Gaza, flooded houses in Johr al-Deek village, which is southeast of Gaza City, and Nusirat in the eastern part of the territory, where the Al-Nusirat refugee camp is also located.

The Valley of Gaza is about 8 kilometers long. It starts on the eastern Gaza border with Israel and ends in the Mediterranean.

The houses of many Palestinians have been flooded and a number of people are trapped inside or on their roofs, while many have also gone missing, the Press TV correspondent said.

Rescue teams are using small boats to evacuate the trapped people.

Hamas has condemned the act as a war crime and has called on all concerned parties to intervene and offer assistance to the locals.

The flooding has made life more difficult for the Gazans, especially for those still living in tents because their homes were destroyed in the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

In the war, more than 1,400 people were killed, mostly women and children, and over 10,000 houses were destroyed or damaged, forcing at least 500 families to live in tents.

Very little progress is seen in reconstruction of the devastated areas in the Gaza Strip, mostly due to the Israeli blockade, which has prevented the delivery of building materials to the coastal enclave.

GAZA, (PIC)– The government of Ismail Haneyya on Tuesday appealed to the world community to save the flood-stricken areas in Gaza Strip and to send urgently needed construction material.

Ahmed Al-Kurd, the minister of social affairs, said in a press release that Gaza was the target of siege then war and now came the floods.

He said that his government started implementing an emergency plan to provide shelter for 70 families who sought refuge in one of the schools.

It is now necessary more than ever before to end the siege and allow entry of construction material to rebuild what was devastated by the Israeli war and the natural disasters.

For his part, minister of public works and housing Yousef Al-Mansi said that his ministry’s crews were working round the clock to rescue the citizens in areas submerged by the floods.

He denounced the Israeli occupation authority for opening the Gaza valley dam that led to flooding tens of Palestinian homes with rainwater, describing it as a fresh crime against the Palestinian people.

The government said in a statement that premier Haneyya was personally supervising the rescue operations in the flooded areas in central Gaza Strip.